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Joe Hickerson
October 30, 1935 - August 17, 2025


Coming up ...
Check out these events, presented by PFS and friends.

Westside Concert
Bryan Bowers
Saturday, Sept. 13



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Eastside Concert
Wyatt Easterling
Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025




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Westside Participatory Concert Series for Kids
Kelli Welli
3rd Saturdays - Next: Sept. 20th

"Saturday M
ornin's Music!"

(First show of the new season!)

Kelli Welli
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Newest In Person Singing
1st Sunday East Side
Every First Sunday



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In Person Singing
2nd Friday East Side
Every Second Friday



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In Person Singing
3rd Sunday West Side
Every Third Sunday



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Zoom Song Circle
Virtual Song Circle
Every Saturday Night



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Annual Zoom Singing Weekend
FallSong
October 24-26 2025




Please save the date now.
Details and registration coming soon!.

PFS Virtual Song Circle No. CCLXXXV

Every Saturday Night, a group of folks meets on Zoom for the Virtual Song Circle, or VSC. The virtual doors open at 6:00 PM Pacific Time for schmoozing and tuning, and singing starts at 6:30. There's a group of regulars, and frequent newbies drop in, and sometimes people who have dropped out drop back in. It doesn't make any difference: all people, all songs, are welcome. You can stay for five minutes or five hours. Very relaxed.

Some folks don't like to sing on Zoom, and we understand that. If that's you, you MIGHT want to try again. The technology has gotten better, and we've gotten better at moderating the events. Anyway, although we all miss the hugs, handshakes and harmony of in person events, we also appreciate the ease of getting together with people from all over the place. Give a try, or a second try...

If you know all you need to know about the VSCs, just click here to join.  Want to know more? There's tons more information at portlandfolkmusic.org/virtual.

BTW - we have a game we play of singing the song from the numbered ballads collected by Francis James Child whose number corresponds to the number of the VSC. This coming week is the 285th song circle (wow!) so someone(s) will sing the 285th Child ballad, The George Aloe and the Sweepstake, a thrilling story of a battle between two ships. This song is at least 400 years old, and traveled to the New World and became the more familiar High Barbary. If you are into ballads, sing ANY version of EITHER of those two songs.

Finally, we note with sadness the Joe Hickerson passed away. Joe came regularly to the virtual song circle since it started in 2020, and we have traditionally saved place number one for him. He had been declining for months and was only able to come on occasionally. I'm sure there will be many memories of Joe expressed this week. 
Countdown to VSC!
Countdown
Countdown to VSC!

Events Calendar

Please check out our events calendar below. Editor Barry Gorden manages to capture almost all the upcoming folk events, but if yours is missing please let us know. The list below shows the next week's events, and is updated continuously.

If you need more, go to the Events menu above and pull down to Folk Calendar. When you go there, you can sort by performances, classes, virtual, radio - whatever you like - and you'll have all the events from now until... well, you'll find everything we know about. If it's not listed here, it's probably not happening.
Upcoming Events
Upcoming Events

 
Since 1976, Portland FolkMusic Society has been active preserving, presenting and promoting folk music and arts in the greater Portland Oregon area. PFS sponsors song circles, concerts, workshops and retreats – in person and virtual – and helps its members and the whole community pass the word around about folk music events, from old time ballads to sea shanties, from 60’s protest folk to contemporary singer-songwriters.

PFS is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. 

Portland FolkMusic Society
P.O. Box 1448
Portland, OR 97207-1448
Ideas or questions for PFS? Here's where to look...

Concerts - Concerts pages (see events menu) or pfs-concerts@portlandfolkmusic.org
Contributions - Donations tab or  development@portlandfolkmusic.org
Events Calendar - Events page or eventscalendar@portlandfolkmusic.org
FallSong - Fallsong page (soon) or fallsong@portlandfolkmusic.org
Membership - membership@portlandfolkmusic.org

Newsletter - locallore@portlandfolkmusic.org
Saturday Virtual Song Circle - VSC page, or click here to join
Singtime - singtime@portlandfolkmusic.org
Social Media - socialmedia@portlandfolkmusic.org
Website - Website editor
All other questions - president@portlandfolkmusic.org
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  Comments, questions, about this site? Write to pfs-online@portlandfolkmusic.org